Engineering News

John Holland fined Over Brisbane Airport Link Safety

$110,000 has been handed down after an employee was struck by a falling metal bridge while working on the Brisbane Airport Link.

Engineering contractor was handed the penalty in Brisbane’s Federal Court.

The worker needed multiple stitches to close a head wound after the 47kg structure fell on him in December 2011. He’d been doing tunnel work on the airport project when he was struck by the unsecured bridge.

In facts tendered to the court, the company admitted it didn’t conduct a risk assessment of the bridge before installing and using it.

They also conceded they didn’t give the workers any information or training about how to safely use the structure.

The federal work health and safety regulator, Comcare, initiated the legal action.

They are also pursuing a separate penalty against John Holland over the death of another airport link worker struck by a steel structure in September 2011.